Review: The Bruins maintain their lead over the Canadiens 6-4 in their home opener

The Boston Bruins finished their home opener with a 6-4 victory over the Montreal Canadiens at TD Garden on Thursday, although their Original Six rival rallied in the third period to close the points gap.

There were a lot of goals, so let's get to them!

Here are the highlights of the game:

First period:

The Bruins defense got the ball rolling early in the period, but a power play goal was called back… Hampus Lindholm had a blast from the point blast through traffic, but Montreal challenged Morgan Geekie for goaltender interference. The referees decided it wasn't a goal.

Later in the quarter, the Habs got their chance to gain the man advantage. After back-and-forth play and a short-handed chance from McAvoy and Elias Lindholm, the Habs came back at the other end and with ten seconds left on the power play, Brendan Gallagher deflected a shot past Jeremy Swayman. 1-0 Canadians.

But the B's were given a power play opportunity and took advantage. Five seconds later, Charlie McAvoy tied the game with a wrist shot past Cayden Primeau's stick. 1:1 game.

But just moments later, Montreal regained the lead when Cole Caufield placed a loose puck on the goal line and fired a pass past Swayman. 2:1 Canadians.

In about the same amount of time it took Montreal to score, the Bruins tied the game when Nikita Zadorov made a pass to Mark Kastelic in the high slot, who let a wrist shot fly past Primeau. 2:2 game.

Then Elias Lindholm had his first goal as a Bruin when he deflected Zadorov's shot past Primeau and found the net. 3-2 Bruins.

Second period:

David Pastrnak extended the B's lead with a one-timer in the slot after a pass from Pavel Zacha behind the net. 4-2 Bruins.

Cole Koepke followed the play and crashed into the net to score his first goal as a bruiser on a second attempt after Johnny Beecher's attempt. 5-2 Bruins.

Third period:

Josh Anderson converted a long shot from Kaiden Guhle to score the goal 5-3 game Midway through the final frame, the Canadiens found some life.

Gallagher scored his second goal of the night to bring the Canadiens within one point when Gallagher beat Swayman with a snapshot from the inside line. 5-4 game.

Kastelic threw a pass that was deflected by a defender over Primeau's right shoulder for his second goal of the night. Final score: 6-4 Bruins.

Game notes

• How often does it happen that three new faces to the Bruins lineup score their first goal in the Black and Gold on the same night? Kastelic, Koepke and Elias Lindholm all had their first win as a Bruin.
• The Bruins definitely started stronger tonight, winning more puck battles and outscoring the Canadiens in two periods.
• The fourth line was instrumental in creating offensive zone time and going hard to the net. Kastelic's goals were the result of an attack into the net. When a Canadian wasn't there to deflect the puck, Beecher was there up front to receive the pass intended for him.
• The Bruins defense stepped up offensively tonight and was engaged by Hampus Lindholm's goal. The defense scored on five of the six goals and was involved in all three first-period goals that set the tone for the rest of the game – including Zadorov's two assists. Jim Montgomery said he liked the way the defense made shots and had a shooting mentality.
• But on the other hand, the Bruins still need to get stronger defensively. There were a few backdoor goals where the balls would have had to be picked up. Zadorov said after the game that he would have preferred the team to win 1-0 rather than the result being a high-scoring game.
• While Montgomery was happy with the first win, he said he felt the team needed to get better at puck management, especially in the third period. He didn't like the fact that they conceded two goals after the faceoff and that they had to control things more overall.
• Hampus Lindholm edged out Charlie McAvoy for the most TOI by a whopping two seconds at 22:58 TOI, while Riley Tufte had the least time at 9:21.
• The Bruins will get right back to action on Saturday when they host the Los Angeles Kings for a 1 p.m. matinee at TD Garden.